Ballpark Mysteries Super Special #2

by David A. Kelly

Grace’s lip quivered. “No, you didn’t!” she said. “How could I steal the card if it was here? That card has never been out of this building.” She struggled to loosen her hands from the ribbons but couldn’t.

  As Grace twisted her hands back and forth, footsteps echoed in the hallway. Mr. Owen appeared from around the corner. He stopped suddenly and looked at Grace with her hands tied up in green ribbon.

  “What’s going on?” he asked. “Is this some kind of a joke?”

  Grace glared at Mr. Owen. “I don’t know,” she said. “These kids are playing a game. They thought it would be funny to trap me.”

  “We’re not playing any game,” Kate said. “Stealing artifacts from the Hall of Fame is serious business.” She took a step toward Mr. Owen. “I think you’ll want this back.”

  Kate handed Mr. Owen the gift box she had been holding. He slipped the cover off and his eyes grew wide.

  “It’s the real Honus Wagner card! I can tell by its edges,” he said. “Where did you get it?”

  Kate pointed to Grace. “She stole it when you left your office to let Big D and Jordan out,” she said.

  “But I thought she left with us,” Mr. Owen said.

  “She didn’t,” Mike said. “We talked to Jordan this morning. He said Grace stayed behind to look for her purse. That’s when she stole the card.”

  Mr. Owen shook his head. “I can’t believe this,” he said.

  Grace pulled her shoulders back. “Then don’t!” she said. She pointed at Mike and Kate. “They’re making this up!”

  “No, we’re not,” Mike said. He took out his phone and clicked on it until a picture of Grace’s desk came up on the screen. “The stolen card was in this bag, on the floor! We took a picture of it there half an hour ago. Who else would put it there?”

  Mr. Owen studied the picture. Mike held it up for Grace to see.

  Grace looked at the floor for a moment, and a big smile broke across her face. “Well, of course I did it,” she said. “When I heard the real one was missing this morning, I happened to remember that one of the kids wrapped a Honus Wagner card yesterday. I was worried that it might have been the real one. So I fished it out of the present pile and put it under my desk for safekeeping. I was going to give it to you after lunch to check.”

  Mike and Kate looked at each other. “That’s a lie!” Kate said. “You might have taken that present out of the pile this morning, but you’re the one who wrapped it yesterday.” Kate pointed to the red wrapping paper and the purple and yellow ribbons on the floor that Grace had torn off the gift a few minutes before.

  “I watched you! You wrapped that Honus Wagner card that fell out of your purse in red wrapping paper and used two ribbons so you could find it later!” Kate said.

  Mike flipped through all the pictures he took of Grace opening the present.

  Mr. Owen stared at the photos and then at Grace. “You’ve always been such a good person, Grace!” he said. “Why would you do this? Did you need money that badly?”

  Grace looked at Mike’s phone, at the wrapping paper and ribbons on the ground, and then at Mr. Owen. She let out a little sigh.

  “I’m sorry,” she said in a soft voice. “Mike and Kate are right. I did steal the card.”

  “Why?” Mr. Owen said. “Why would you steal from us?”

  “It was for the kids,” Grace said. “We don’t have enough money for the community center. I thought if I stole the card, someone would offer reward money. Then I could turn the card in and donate the money. You’d get your card back, and the kids would get a new community center. It would be good for everyone!”

  “But that’s stealing!” Mr. Owen said.

  “I know,” Grace said. “I’ve never stolen anything in my life. But when you left that two-million-dollar baseball card sitting in the office yesterday, I just took it without thinking.”

  “And then you left it here, under the tree,” Kate said. “Why didn’t you take it home?”

  “I had second thoughts after I took it, but I didn’t know how to put it back without getting in trouble,” Grace said. “When it fell on the floor, I just figured I’d wrap it and leave it here. I knew it was safe, and I could figure out what to do later.

  “I know it was wrong,” she pleaded. “That’s why I came back today and put the present in the office. I was going to find a way to give it back.”

  Mr. Owen nodded. “I see,” he said. He looked at the Honus Wagner card in his hand. Then he walked over to the safe and put it inside. After he closed the door and spun the dial, he turned around.

  “Okay, the card is safe. We should take those ribbons off now,” he said.

  Kate used a pair of scissors sitting on the desk to cut the green ribbons off Grace’s wrists.

  “I’m so sorry!” Grace said. “It was all for the kids. I was never going to sell the Honus Wagner card or damage it. I just needed to find a way to raise more money!”

  “I’m afraid you’re going to have to tell that to the police,” Mr. Owen said. He picked up the phone. “We can all just wait right here to tell them the whole story.”

  “But the holiday party is tonight!” Grace said. “I have to take the gifts to the Otesaga right now, or none of the kids will get any presents!”

  “Sit down, Grace,” Mr. Owen said. “You’re not going anywhere except to the police station. But maybe Mike and Kate can get the presents there.”

  “How can we bring all those presents?” Kate said. “We can’t drive yet!”

  Mike nudged her. “But my dad can!” he said. “He has a big van for his sporting goods store. We can load the presents in it and bring them over in one trip! I’ll give him a call.”

  “We did it!” Mike said. He stepped back from the holiday tree set up in the ballroom of the Otesaga. It was five o’clock and the kids had just started arriving for the party. With the help of Mike’s dad, he and Kate had moved the presents from the Hall of Fame to the hotel.

  Kate nodded. “I’m glad we got all the presents here in time,” she said.

  Mike looked startled. “Almost all the presents,” he said. “I forgot one! Wait here. I need to catch my dad before he leaves!”

  Mike ran out the door. Kate watched the kids examine the frosted cookies on the table at the side of the room. When Mike came back, he was carrying a big flat present.

  Kate pointed to the tree. “Hurry up and get it under there!” she said.

  Mike shook his head. “Nope. It’s not going under the tree,” he said. He handed the present to Kate. “This one’s for you! I wanted to thank you and your parents for bringing us to so many baseball stadiums. I’ve had so much fun!”

  Kate smiled. She tore into the red-and-white wrapping paper.

  It was a framed map of all the major-league baseball stadiums. And near each one they visited, Mike had pasted a picture of him and Kate at the stadium! “I love it!” Kate said.

  She gave him a big hug. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out a small gift-wrapped package. She handed it to Mike.

  He tore into the bright green wrapping paper to reveal a box. He lifted the lid and pulled out a colorful bracelet with a hologram in the middle.

  “It’s a power bracelet,” Kate said. “It’s designed to give you more power and balance when you’re at bat. I thought it would help you hit better!”

  Mike slipped it on his wrist. Then he took a couple of air swings. “It feels great!” he said. “I think I’m stronger already! I feel like Big D!”

  “Well, that’s good,” Kate said. “Because as part of my present, Big D’s going to give you a batting lesson, too! My mother arranged for him to meet you at the batting cages tomorrow. He said he’d give you some secret tips for hitting home runs!”

  Mike smiled and hugged Kate. “Thank you!” he said. “That will be amazing! What a great Christmas!”

  “And hey, that reminds me!” Kate said. “We need to find Big D and Jordan to tell them that we found the Honus Wagner card!”

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p; Mike nodded. “Let’s check at the front desk,” he said.

  He and Kate ran through the long corridors of the hotel to the lobby. Mike asked the woman behind the counter about Big D. “Check the reading room,” she said. “It’s just around the corner.”

  Mike and Kate ran over to the reading room. Its walls were lined with books, and the windows gave a nice view of the snow-covered lake and mountains. Big D and Jordan were sitting at a table playing cards. Big D looked up when they came into the room. He held up his hand.

  SMACK! SMACK! Mike and Kate high-fived with Big D.

  “Did Jordan tell you that the Honus Wagner card at the Hall of Fame was stolen yesterday?” Kate asked.

  “Yes!” Big D said. “I couldn’t believe it when he told me. It’s such a famous card. Will they be able to get it back?”

  “Yup, don’t worry,” Mike said. “We just found it! It’s back in Mr. Owen’s safe now.”

  “That’s great!” Big D said. “But how did it get there?”

  “Grace took it. She was trying to play Robin Hood, taking from the Hall of Fame to give to the community center,” Kate said. She explained to Big D how she and Mike had tracked down the missing card.

  “Oh,” Big D said. “That’s not good. Grace shouldn’t have stolen it.”

  “You’re right,” Kate said. “Grace will be in trouble for stealing it. But the kids in Cooperstown will also be in trouble because now Grace can’t raise any more money.”

  Big D nodded. “That’s too bad for the kids,” he said. Then he stood up and stretched.

  “Are you coming to the party?” Mike asked. “It’s starting soon.”

  “I sure will,” he said. “But I’ve got an idea to make the party a bit more fun! Let me make a few calls, and then I’ll be down. Keep the hot chocolate warm for me!”

  The party was in full swing when Mike and Kate made it back. The room was filled with kids from the community center. They were playing Pin the Star on the Tree and a mystery stocking game, where kids had to guess what was stuffed inside colorful stockings. All the presents were stacked under the tree in the middle of the room.

  Mike and Kate stopped at the cookies and milk table. Kate picked up a butterscotch haystack cookie, while Mike poured himself a hot chocolate and grabbed a crispy chocolate stick cookie.

  “This is great!” Kate said. “I wonder when Santa is going to come.”

  Mike looked at the time. “He should be here soon,” he said. Mike pointed to a door in the back of the room. “I think he’s supposed to come through there.”

  Mike and Kate continued to munch their cookies while the kids had fun playing holiday games. “I guess Santa is missing!” Mike said. “Maybe Rudolph lost his way.”

  Just then, the door in the back swung open!

  “That must be Santa!” Kate said.

  “Hmphfffff,” Mike said. He was busy chewing on a cookie.

  At first, it looked like Santa! But when Mike and Kate looked more closely, it was something better.

  It was Big D dressed up as Santa!

  Big D had a red Santa suit on, and a fluffy white beard. He carried a bag over his shoulder. Jordan trailed behind, taking pictures.

  The kids cheered and started chanting, “Big D! Big D! Big D!” He waved, and then sat on a chair at the front of the room. One by one, Big D handed out the presents.

  When he was done, Big D stood and held up his hands for quiet.

  “I hope you enjoy the presents, but I’ve got some special news,” he said. “I heard about how much you kids need a new community center. And I know someone who tried a little too hard to get money for it. So I called a few of my baseball friends.”

  Mike and Kate looked at each other. “That must be why he was late,” Kate said.

  Big D continued. “I called players on the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Cubs, and a bunch of other teams,” he said. “And they all agreed that they’d chip in money to build a new community center for Cooperstown!”

  The kids exploded in cheers. Mike and Kate clapped and jumped up and down.

  Big D waved his hands again for quiet. “But there was one condition that everyone required before they would donate money,” Big D said. “And it’s an important one.”

  The room went silent.

  “We all agreed to donate the money, but only if we can also give enough to make a new baseball field for the town team!” Big D said.

  The room exploded in cheers a second time! Mike and Kate cheered, too. A huge smile crossed Big D’s face. He waved again, and then stepped over to Mike and Kate.

  “You two did a great job finding that missing card!” Big D said.

  “Thanks,” said Mike.

  “And it sounds like you did a great job tracking down some of your friends to help the kids of Cooperstown,” Kate said. “That’s pretty special!”

  “It seemed like the right thing to do,” Big D said. “I’m glad the other players and I were able to help out. It feels so good to do something for someone else!”

  Mike raised his hand. “Good job!” he said.

  Big D leaned over. SMACK! He gave Mike a high five. Then he turned to Kate. SMACK! He gave her one, too.

  Big D straightened back up and patted his large red Santa belly. “I know this is Santa’s gig,” he said. “But ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone!”

  Honus at the Hall. Exhibits change at the National Baseball Hall of Fame all the time, but the Hall has two original 1909 Honus Wagner T206 cards. One is usually on display. Their value is not displayed with the cards, but other Honus Wagner cards have sold for more than $3 million.

  The first five. The first five players voted into the Hall of Fame were Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, and Honus Wagner, in 1936. The first Induction (or welcoming) Ceremony was held on June 12, 1939. The author’s father, Kevin Kelly, attended it as a little boy with his father. He was impressed with Connie Mack, a great manager who always wore a suit.

  Doubtful Doubleday. In 1905, the Mills Commission, a group of baseball experts, was formed to decide who invented baseball. Without much evidence, they announced that Civil War General Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown, New York, around 1839. However, it’s unlikely that Doubleday had anything to do with baseball.

  Why Cooperstown? Whether it was true or not, once the legend of Abner Doubleday inventing baseball took hold, the people of Cooperstown decided to celebrate the town’s alleged connection to baseball. They bought Elihu Phinney’s cow pasture, where Doubleday supposedly invented baseball, and turned it into a baseball park in 1920. By the 1930s, a movement grew for creating a baseball museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum opened in 1939.

  Town-ball. The real origin of baseball has been debated for over one hundred years. Baseball is similar to rounders, an English game played with a ball and bat and four bases. The word baseball first appeared in 1744 in an English children’s book. Baseball was known by other names, including town-ball, round-ball, and base-ball. Around 1850, official rules were created and the modern form of baseball started to take shape.

  How to get into the Hall. Baseball players are elected into the Hall of Fame by baseball writers and reporters. Players need to have played in the major leagues for at least ten years. They have to wait five years after they are done playing before they are eligible for the Hall of Fame. Baseball writers vote for their top ten eligible players each year. Any player who gets more than 75 percent of votes is accepted.

  Cooperstown confidential. Coopers-town is in the middle of New York State. It’s surrounded by farmland, a beautiful lake, and rugged mountains. It was home to James Fenimore Cooper, a famous writer who wrote a book called The Last of the Mohicans. The town was named after his father, the founder. Today the town is filled with baseball- and vacation-related stores. Lots of baseball teams come to play on historic Doubleday Field or at a large set of baseball fields outside of town.

/>   Stone giant. A fun place to visit in Cooperstown is the Farmers’ Museum. The museum recreates farm life from the 1800s. Visitors can explore two dozen historic buildings, including a general store, a blacksmith’s shop, and a doctor’s office. But one of the most interesting exhibits is the Cardiff Giant. The Cardiff Giant is one of the country’s biggest hoaxes! The ten-foot-tall “petrified” man was discovered in 1869 by workers digging a well on a farm. The farm owner started charging people fifty cents to see it and was soon making lots of money. Then P. T. Barnum made his own Cardiff Giant and started showing it. Eventually both were revealed as fakes, but not until lots of people had paid to see them.

  Otsego to Glimmerglass. Cooperstown is located on the shores of Otsego Lake. The word otsego is a Native American name meaning “place of the rock.” Visitors can still see the rock, called Council Rock, in the lake today. James Fenimore Cooper called the lake Glimmerglass in his books. On the eastern shore of the lake, there’s a small castle that was built just to be pretty. It’s only accessible from the lake, but no visitors are allowed.

  Makes 12 muffins

  Here’s a recipe for the Blue Chip Muffins that Kate and I had for breakfast at the Hall of Fame. They are my favorite muffins because they’re chocolate and blueberry! That’s like a walk-off home run! I make them with my mom. (Don’t tell her, but sometimes I try to sneak extra chocolate chips into the batter!) Now you can make them, too (with an adult’s help). —Mike

  Ingredients

  2 cups all-purpose flour

  ½ cup granulated sugar

  ¼ teaspoon salt

  2 teaspoons baking powder

  ¼ teaspoon cinnamon